Thuggish
by WoxwilltheOutlaw
Summary: Set in modern universe, DTD is a popular drug circling around the Radiant Garden district. Aqua struggles to provide for a son. The father is absent leaving her with a son to raise on her own. Until one day a man enters her life and she takes on a bring new lifestyle. From ex-military soldier to the girlfriend of a local street thug./due for a rewrite/
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is fanfiction. I had an idea. I wrote the idea. That is all. I am not good at anything I do. Writing included. Also, the author is black. This is ghetto. I'm not sorry. Carry on.**

**OOC**

**Xigqua/Xigbar, Braig and Aqua**

As the building burned in front of her. She grasped her son closer to her singed clothes. The boy's eyes teared up, he looked to his mother. "Where's daddy?"

**3 months ago**

"Ventus, baby get your things together, it's time to leave." Aqua gathered her own materials into a briefcase in the kitchen. A small boy, 3 feet in height with ruffled blond hair. He emerged from his room holding a patchwork doll. "Mommy... I don't want to go to school."

"Venny...," she settled her hands upon her hips as she approached the boy. "You will be late to school. You don't want to miss your first day. You might make new friends."

"I want my old friends," he stated.

"But they live somewhere else honey..."

"We can go visit them..."

"Ventus..."

"Mom..."

Aqua rolled her eyes. "Ventus, honey, can't you make today easy?"

He shook his head. "What if my new school tortures kids?"

"You won't get tortured Ventus," she reassured. "I might die..." Ventus choked himself. "I heard teachers choke the kids..."

"You heard no such thing, Ventus."

"Dad went to school and he said that the teachers-"

"Ventus!" She didn't mean to raise her voice. The child shuttered. She gazed at his big blue eyes like her own. And the absent father. She drew a breath and placed both hands on the boy. "Ventus, please go get ready for school."

Ventus turned to his bedroom. His movements slow, Aqua called back, "The quicker you get ready to go. The faster you'll be out of school. The fair is still open. We could go ride the teacups."

His eyes glimmered and his face bright.

Aqua beamed, "Depends how fast you get ready for school."

"Super-fast!" he hurried into his bedroom. Aqua could gather the dressers yanked open. She attended to her own business as she waited for Ventus to get ready. Aqua looked over her items, then patted her black skirt. 'Keys... can't forget my keys'

She moved into the living room and plunked the car keys with the house keys attached. Two knocks and the doorbell rung at the front door. Aqua put her keys in her bra. She cracked the door before urging to close it.

"Now, Aqua don't act that way." The man pushed with a force, knocking Aqua back. He barged in, a tall brunette male stood in the living room. His hair a mess and eyes glazed. "I couldn't find you for days. I had to ask for you."

"Terra! Get out!" she screamed. Terra stepped closer. "Aqua, I thought you were my wife. You can't keep me away from my son..."

"Get the fuck out! Look at you! You're high on DTD!"

She scurried to the kitchen and grabbed a knife from the knife holder. Terra followed standing on the other side of the counter between them. "Where is my son...?"

"School!"

"You're a terrible liar." Terra relocated around the offset. Aqua passed to the separate side. They went back and forth until Terra vaulted the counter cornering her. He shoved her into the sink. "You believe you can leave me?" Terra seized her hands. "Terra!" she whined. "Shut up!" He sprained her wrist. "You took the munny out the house. Even my fucking stash! You had the nerve to take Ventus from me!"

"Terra let me go!" she shook her hands, trying to free herself from his grasp. Terra bent her arms in front of her, he pressed his body against her. "I want my munny..."

"Let me go!"

"Daddy!" Ventus came bolting out the door in his school uniform. He latched onto Terra's leg. "Venny, my boy."

"Are you going to take me to school?" Terra lifted the boy into his arms. "I don't know. I don't think mommy will let me."

"What! Why?" Ventus pouted. He glanced at his mother, who hid her fright and panic. "Can daddy take me to school? Please, mommy? Please, Please, Please."

Aqua held her breath. Terra stared her down. "Yeah, mommy. Please?"

Aqua gnawed at her lip. A flash of memory transpired within her mind. His fingers closed around her throat. Ventus was still a baby, he couldn't remember seeing his mother thrown against a wall. "Maybe next week... I told Ventus we would go to the fair after school."

"We can go next week! Daddy can come with us!" Ventus cheered. "NO!" Aqua's hands flew to her face. "Huh...?" Ventus viewed his mother. "Fine..." it burned her lips to express it. "Next week we'll all go to the fair."

"All right." Terra faced Ventus in his arms smiling ear to ear. "I haven't ridden the teacups in a long time."

Terra carried Ventus to the entrance and set him down. "Go wait by the car. Mommy and I have to catch up."

"Ok!" Ventus hurried to the black sleek car parked on the curve. He pressed his hands against the vehicle. "This one?" He called. "That's it Venny."

Ventus opened the back door of the car and threw his backpack and hopped in. Terra turned to Aqua with a knife in her grasp. He peered out at the car before closing the door and locking it. "Where is the munny, Aqua?"

Aqua kept the knife in her hand. Terra stepped closer, "This can all be over quick. Give me my munny."

"I took it so you wouldn't spend everything we had on DTD. Terra, you need help!" Aqua exclaimed. She danced around the stand again. Terra charged around the left and reached out to grab her arm. The knife in her hand came down, slicing his arm. "You fucking blue-haired bitch!"

Blood dripped onto the white tile floor. He lunged at her. Aqua flung the knife again, cutting the fabric of Terra's clothes. He tackled her to ground letting his weight keep her still. Aqua squirmed and fought. Terra grabbed her wrist and pinned them above her head with his right hand. The free hand grabbed the knife. Aqua's body jolted at the blade against the bottom of her chin. "You see this? Where is my money?" he stared her down. "If you don't tell me. I'll get Ventus to find it."

"Don't you fucking dare..." she held her breath. Don't show fear, like big brother taught you.

The knife dug into her skin. "WHERE!" he shouted and for a moment, fear had spurted through her. She nipped her lip. "In the cellar... in a box"

"Good. Stay here."

She stayed that way. Hands above her head. Terra opened the cellar towards the back of the house. He proceeded down the stairs. Boxes packed labeled Ventus, Kitchen, bedroom, etc. He gazed at the shelves against the wall. Figures, boxes, and bags. One box caught his eyes, a long, wide, rectangular box with a locked heart. Terra beamed and being six feet even, he got it with no problem.

Terra attended to Aqua. "Ventus will be late." he hovered over her. "I trust the full 70,000 munny is here?"

She nodded. "Get out..."

"Fine with me. I'll be back for dinner," a smirked sat upon his tanned glow. "My apartment burned down."

With that, he left, leaving his ex-wife on the floor. She waited until she heard the roaring of the engine. Aqua squeezed her eyes, the water flowed onto the tiles and quiet whimpers escaped. She crawled to the living room. Next to the tv, the house phone. She reached to grab it off the stand, knocking the receiver. Aqua dialed the number she knew by heart, her lips trembled. 3 rings... pick up Dilan...


	2. Chapter 2

**[There is a Google extension that reads texts to you. webstore/detail/read-aloud-a-text-to-spee/hdhinadidafjejdhmfkjgnolgimiaplp?hl=en. Read aloud setting: Justin recommended for that anime effect.]**

Aqua drove to work. Terra kidnapped Ventus and took him to school. Kidnapped was a better word than 'volunteered'. On the way to work, her mood was foul and body jittery.

When she got to her job, she relaxed in the car and stared at an image of Ventus hooked to the key chain. A picture of him on his 2nd birthday. A photograph of them at the beach. "I wish you'd stay gone..."

She marched into the HeartHive building, a tech corporation. She wondered as she paced through the building why she wore a skirt. Oh, right? Ansem wanted to have a serious meeting with the patrols.

**HeartHive**

"I assume that everyone is here today?" Ansem folded his arms behind his back. He was an old dude around the age of 60 but appeared to be a younger gentleman. They assembled in a wide room with a round table large enough to fit eight people.

"You never call for a session," noted Aeleus, the tallest guard at HH. Aeleus looked intimidating but Aqua knew he was a huge bear. Next to Ansem, the company's top technician, Even. Saying technician was a nice way of saying he was a hacker and kept the systems clean and secure. HeartHive wasn't a liked business in the Garden District. "The reason we are having this meeting is more to inform you. Someone hacked our computers in the night's middle," Even addressed.

The guards heaved, "How can anyone hack the business. Even, you brag on the security you built for the corporation," addressed Cloud. Even's lip twitched, "I have made an impenetrable virus protection program. And what they hacked may have been..." he avoided his gaze with the patrols. "Less shielded."

"What did they hack into?" inquired Aqua.

Even tilted his head nonchalant, "The profiles of the guards."

"Fantastic..." Dilan, Aqua's half-brother, rolled his eyes. "I have to check my bank account now."

"That won't be necessary. They took nothing. But, we would like for each of you to know and change your passwords. In case..."

"In the event, we wind up hacked and penniless?" jested Leon.

"More or less..."

Aqua eyed Ansem, "If money wasn't the objection. Then what was the goal?"

"We aren't sure..." Even pressed his glasses against his nose. "I looked at the activity. The computer is operating from a PC named MemoryJERK. "Cool nickname for a PC," grinned Dilan.

Even rolled his eyes, "While you're in awe of a name they could hold your life's secrets in their hand."

Aeleus chortled, "Oh no D, they found the 7 wives..."

Dilan faked a gasp and turned to Aqua, "Oh no little sister... I guess I should tell you. I'm not your brother and my father was a gangster. He's in prison now..."

The table of guards joined in on the joke with snorts and chuckles. "Laugh it up," Ansem asserted. The guard's voices lowered. Ansem surveyed each face, "This may be a small poke. It could escalate to a spark. Given the history we have, we are not the most liked. I've asked every employee to turn in their phones. And buy new ones..."

"What..." Leon scrunched up his nose. "How can this person get into our phones?"

"Powerful ass computer...," enunciated Dilan. "The gist of this is that this is Cyberwarfare. The biggest concern is... are we getting paid?"

Ansem kept his empty face, "No..."

Aeleus blinked, "I'm going home..."

"Same..." Cloud rose from his seat and walked with Aeleus to the door. Even blocked them, "Hand over the phones."

"How can they do any damage if we aren't here?!" Leon queried. "Mr. Leonhart, please had over your phone...," Even beckoned.

Aqua wasn't a tech-savvy person. Either was Dilan. After the war ten years ago, she went from soldier to bodyguard. "Don't worry little sister... Big brother's here," he jested.

The two remained in the locker room. Aqua opened her locker, a large blown photo of Ventus with Terra's picture ripped off covered in the back. She grabbed her chapstick and apply some before turning to her brother.

"Oh, look at you tapping into your jokester side," she mocked. "I'm in a good mood today." Aqua and Dilan were half-siblings, Dilan's father serving as the divide. She didn't get the same coarse hair as he got that from his mother. He mimicked his mother's braids and cornrows while she preserved her loose waves. Dilan gazed into his locker, a mirror on the side of the door and stickers stuck to the frame.

"You think the company getting hacked is an issue?" he claimed. "Yes, but I have an important question... why didn't you pick up the phone?"

"Did you call me? I've had it off the whole day. Damn thing's been beeping and buzzing at random. What happened? Something wrong with Ventus?"

"Terra stole him..."

"WHAT!?" he vexed.

"Well—Not stole, I say stole, but-," she reeled her words struggling to explain. She drew a breather, "Terra showed up at the door. He broke into the household and commanded where I hid the munny I took..."

"Aqua I ordered you to leave that shit alone...," he jeered.

"Dilan, I know but I guessed if I took the munny-"

"He couldn't get any more DTD? Woman are you stupid? Was the dick that damn good it kept you from thinking?"

She grunted. Dilan was finding his overprotective brother side. Aqua threw her head back, she prepared for a lecture. "Let his ass overdose... I told you to fuck everything and fuck him ."

"He's still my husband D,"

"You know how to keep Santa Claus from coming in through the fireplace? You set his ass on fire. This shit you're doing is creating trouble. You have a five-year-old!"

There he was overpowering her. "Dilan, I'm fine...," she underlined. "Were you okay when he drove you against the wall? Calling me to get Ventus out of the house. He was with me for a fucking year!" He slammed the door on his locker, making shutter. "Aqua, what the fuck!"

Aqua faced her toes. Dilan sauntered off, with her head turned away, she uttered, "He's coming over tonight..."

"I'll be there!" Dilan shouted back without gracing her with a peek.

**10:30 pm**

Though it was nice to have the extra protection. Dilan was clingy... He looked tough with cornrows in his hair and emotionless face. Dilan was the softest thug she knew. If she could even call a thug, a thug after watching the Lion King ten times and still tear up.

Aqua settled in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Some black-eyed peas, chicken, macaroni, mashed potatoes and honeyed rolls on the side. In the living room, Dilan amused Ventus. Ventus waved around a toy gun making 'pa-choo' sounds. "You think you can tell me to jail! I'm the toughest cowboy in the west!" Dilan tipped the hat on his head. "It's over Big Bad Bill! Your days of stealing and killing are over!" Ventus fired his lego pistol. Dilan grabbed his chest and fell to his knees. "Arg!" Dilan collapsed on the carpet in a heap. "Sorry it came to this Bill... you were a good brother."

"And you were a decent brother too, Rowdy Rick... argg... I could've asked for another. I'm sorry about your pa...," Dilan coughed.

"Maybe it wasn't your fault... Pa did drink a lot."

Aqua listened from the kitchen, her heart wrenched. The roleplay broke at the twisting knob at the door. Dilan rolled onto his stomach and Ventus ran to the entrance. "DADDY!"

Terra came with blood-shot eyes, smacking on gum. "Daddy!" Ventus cheered. "Mommy fixed Dinner!"

Terra ruffled Ventus's hair. "She better had fixed dinner. I'm starving..."

"You can wait..." implied Dilan. Terra's neck snapped to the right and glared at the man. He called out to Aqua, "Bluebird!" Bluebird was a nickname he had given her, she hated it now. "Why is he here?"

"I live here now, bitch..."

Terra shot back, sneering and snarling like a stray dog. "Aqua! I don't want him in here!"

Dilan lifted from the floor, "I don't think you get that choice..."

"Get out!"

"What's wrong Terra? Didn't like the way I handled your ass the time you put your hands on my sister? Mm?"

They both focused on each other. Aqua called Ventus to her side. One side wanted Dilan to fuck Terra up in simple terms. The other, good, angelic side wanted him to at least get him to leave. The end goal was Terra getting ass beat either way. Ventus faced his mother, "Mommy, why does uncle not like Daddy?"

Aqua didn't answer. "Le-Let's eat. Everything is done. Come, eat!"

The two men paused their glares. Dilan smirked and motioned to the kitchen with Terra's hateful gaze following. Dilan sat at the table across next to Ventus, he glimpsed at Terra, "Terra, I know I look good but please."

After trash talking and confusion from Ventus, Aqua set the plates on the table with food. She sat next to Ventus, leaving Terra to sit next to Dilan.

"Mommy you make the best macaroni, "Praised Ventus stuffing his face with macaroni." "Woah Ven, you can't eat all the macaroni," Dilan chaffed.

"I'm going. To. Eat. The. Whole. Pot!" the child danced in his seat. "Well, I guess I can have the cake to myself...," Ventus ogled his mother with his mouth agape. "You wouldn't..."

"Careful Ven. Your mama is tricky. She has her ways," Terra winked, eyeing Aqua who looked to Dilan. "So, Terra. What brings you here?"

Terra huffed, "My left nut."

"Might want to get that checked out... nuts shouldn't walk or in your case, bounce?"

"Oh har-har, Dilan. I forgot how fucking funny you are!" Terra scoffed. "Terra!" Aqua reprimanded. "Ven is right here..."

"Oh come, Bluebird! Ven, you've heard your daddy cuss before. Listen to this, your uncle D is sorry ass motherfucker!"

"Terra!"

"I mean," Dilan started. "I never hit my wife. What's baffling is that she's still here with you, aka, a sack of shit."

"You calling me a sack of shit?" Terra's tone sharpened, he licked his teeth. "I'm saying. Any man that beats his wife in front of his own son. Is. Less. Than. A Man. Aka your bitch ass."

He nodded his head. Terra scooped a fork of everything on his plate, shoving it in his mouth before targeted Dilan with the fork. "Bitch!"

"Terra!"

Dilan grabbed his left shoulder, he kicked away Terra making him fall to the floor. He got up from the chair. Aqua ushered Ventus to his room, covering his eyes. The last thing she needed was this burned into his memory.

Terra launched from the floor til Dilan smacked back down by a fist to the nose. He bled red oozing onto his black jacket. Terra shook off his daze before trying to tackle Dilan into the wall. The men wrestled, Terra pinned him delivering blows to the gut. Dilan hoisted him above his head before slamming him on the table, breaking it.

In Ventus's room. He clung to his mother. "It's okay Ven. Wait in here, okay?"

"No...," he whimpered. He pulled on Aqua pajama pants, pulling her back to the bed. "It's going to be okay Ven. Stay in here."

"No! Mommy!" he pleaded. Aqua unclenched Ven's visit and exited the room. Noise rattled the boy, he held his breath and grabbed his doll for comfort.

"Terra! Dilan!" Aqua shrieked. They moved into the living room, Terra held a knife. "Come at me! You tough! Fight me, bitch!"

Aqua scratched at her chest, her breathing hitched. She screamed, "Terra, STOP!"

Terra bent his head back, for that moment Dilan attacked Terra. He pinned him down and pounded his face. "Dilan enough!" Aqua cried. Dilan didn't stop, blood marked Terra's lip, eyes, and nose. Terra's fingers twitched. As he went for another blow he stopped at the roaring sound of, "GET OFF MY DADDY!"

Ventus ran to Dilan and hit him. None of the small jabs to the chest affected him. He got off Terra and watched the boy clinging to his battered father. "Daddy..."

Terra stroked Ventus's back. "I'm all right..."

Dilan saw the broken family. His sister crying, a son attached to his father. He spotted Aqua, her lips trembled and her hands rattled with nerves. "Get out Dilan!"


	3. Chapter 3

**[I just want to say that if this story doesn't update for a long time. It is because im storing up chapters. I always write a chapter and edit it after. And I still have to edit some more]**

Aqua swept the dust from the broken table. Ventus picked up the pieces of wood and carried them into the living room. He waltzed back to the kitchen and gawked at his mother.

"Mommy?" Aqua lamented and forced herself to look at her son. "Yes, Ven?"

"You... You aren't mad at Daddy, are you?" A jolt discharged within her. "What do you mean Ven?" She feared the answer. Terra settled in the living room, wiping the blood from his face. "Ven, come here. Don't bother your mother..."

Aqua didn't want Ven near him. The answer to the question, yes, she was livid. Terra's presence made her blood boil. He had done far too much damage in her life. She couldn't allow Ven to get wrap in the nonsense.

"Ven!" she called him. "Yes, mama?" he turned around, his eyes made her heart and rage die. "Mama isn't mad at Daddy."

Aqua switched her focus on Terra, recline on the couch. "But she wishes Daddy wasn't so," she bit down on her lip. "Stupid."

"Huh?" Ven turned to his father. "Why are you stupid, Daddy?"

Terra laughed, "Daddy isn't stupid. Ya see Ven, sometimes you have people that think one way. And others try to stop them from imagining about that thing they don't approve of."

"Is Mommy trying to get you to think different?"

"MOMMY!" Aqua blurted. "Wants Daddy to understand a pot of gold under the damn rainbow doesn't fucking mean that life will be rich forever! And the gold he found is wrecking his life!"

Terra glared, he sat further back on the sofa, "Mommy, doesn't accept that the pot of gold makes Daddy happy! Daddy knows the gold is evil and he shouldn't have taken it!"

"If Daddy fucking knew the gold was bad, why did Daddy take the gold!"

The two went back and forth, leaving Ventus in utter confusion. He understood was gold being under the rainbow and it was wrong. Aqua argued, "The gold is cursed!"

"It may be cursed, but it makes me rich!"

"How! The gold is changing you!" She fought back the pressure behind her eyes. "Gold isn't everything! It doesn't make me happy, it doesn't make the marriage easy. What if you shared that gold with your son? Huh, Terra? Would you be happy knowing the gold got into the hands of your child!?"

Her voice was brittle. She crumbled, gasping for the air she wanted. Ven looked on worried. He ran to his mother grabbing her pants leg. "Daddy you made mommy cry!"

Terra didn't say a word.

Aqua faced her son, she patted his head. "Ven, baby, go to your room. Mommy's okay. Daddy and I need to talk."

He clung harder. "Ven... do as your told, please?"

"Mommy..."

Terra rubbed his face, he shot from the couch, "Oh fuck's sake! VENTUS GO TO YOUR FUCKING ROOM!"

Ventus gulped and raced to his room. He shut the door with a bang and locked it. "Terra!" Aqua declared. He came around to her side and gripped her arm, digging his nails in her. "Give me 500 and I'll leave"

"Did you listen-"

"No! Fuck no! I didn't listen the first, second or third and I sure as hell ain't listening now."

Once, they both could return, 'I love you' and it ended the argument. This wasn't one of those times. She landed her palm on his, not to tell him to let go but to try at saying 'Stop doing this'. His grasp tightened answering, 'I won't'.

"Fine... you need 500? There's 3,500 behind my bedframe. I was saving it for Ven's birthday. Take that since you don't care."

His grasp loosened, "You can do more for Ven than I can... when I'm not strong, at least he has his mom."

"So, you're leaving me with a son?" Aqua's lip shook. Terra eyed her, "You have something good from me. That's what you have..."

He worked to the bedroom and pulled that pouch from behind the frame. Aqua stood in the kitchen, she didn't want him to walk out the door. When he moved out of the room. He headed straight for the door. Terra used to berate himself up for not kissing his wife before work.

The moment his fingers touched the knob. His right ear burned at her voice, "Do you still love me, Terra!?"

He blinked, his lips parted and closed. He glanced at her. If he said it, he'd be lying.

**HeartHive **

**A week later **

Aqua shut the locker. She wore the company's dark slate grey guard uniform. She pulled the sleeves up and shuttered at Dilan standing next to her. "For the love of shit, Dilan!"

Dilan hadn't spoken to Aqua an entire week. He glanced her way and bumped her shoulder but never spoke a word. "How's Ven?"

"Alive..."

Dilan crossed his eyes, "Okay, smartass."

"Thank you, Mr. Petty," her toothy grin earned sneer from him. "How long are you going to keep being a bitch?"

Aqua cocked a brow, "How long can you ignore my existence?"

"Not forever. I recall, my father, your father, told us to watch one another and I'm not about to die one day and have the old man yelling at me."

"Obeying Daddy's last words, huh?" she paced by him, grazing her shoulder against his arm. "Did you let him stay?"

"No. He left..." she bore over her shoulder. "With 3500."

"3500!"

"He doesn't love me. It's done. I have a son and no husband," she exited the locker room. The words that left her ripped the hole she covered up. That's all she had, a son, a brother, and her fucked life.

Guard duty at HeartHive wasn't a fun job. She patrolled around the space with Aeleus and daydreamed. When her mind thought about Terra, she sang. Aeleus would catch her, flabbergasted why. Around lunchtime. The guards sat under a gazebo on the property. "I hate my job," Leon took a bite from his sandwich. "We literally don't do shit all day..."

"Leon aren't you good at computers?" questioned Dilan. "I heard you used to be a tech-savvy person."

"For a bank..." Leon took another bite before finishing it and grabbing the next slice. "Before that I was... uh... delivery guy"

"You don't say?"

"Collector" corrected Cloud.

"I traveled to people's doors. Sold things."

"Local street thug beating people out of their money."

Leon eyed Cloud, he set his sandwich in front of him. "Will you shut the fuck up?"

"Sounds like a mercenary..." noted Aqua. "Sounds fun."

Leon's eyes expanded. "Huh? No... I-"

"Went to jail a few times. Ask Tifa."

"Cloud I swear to fuck."

"That's gay of you..."

Aeleus snorted, covering his lip to not lose his food. "Hey, Aqua. What's that cut under your chin?"

She rubbed her chin and thought of a lie. "My son and I were arguing. He gets hyper, and he threw his toy truck at me."

"That's peculiar. My nephew isn't the type to throw objects at his mother for any reason," Dilan popped a potatoes chip in his mouth. They locked views, challenging each other.

**Central Square Boulevard **

"Why did you hop in my car?" Aqua kept her eyes to the road as she communicated to Dilan. He ran a hand through his cornrows. "Because you're stupid fucking husband blew my car."

"What?" her eyes darted his way. "He wouldn't do that."

"He was high enough to beat your ass."

"Dilan!" she bellowed. "Are you going to hold that against me? You think I liked getting manhandled by my husband?"

"Yes." Aqua's jaw dropped, "You're a bitch." Dilan nodded his head, "He could have done it again. But you kicked me out of the house."

"Are you fucking serious Dilan!"

"Where did the scar come from?" she had forgotten and wanted to forget. Aqua didn't want to tell him after a week. "Can we not do this now? While I'm driving?"

"No! I want to drive around looking for him so he never does it again!"

"Dilan let it go!"

"WHAT—no wait," he laughed. His hands covering his face, he rubbed his chin. "Let me get this straight. You do not want me to hurt him because you still love him?"

No? Yes? Yes. Aqua didn't want to admit it. "I'm not having this discussion with you. He's still my husband."

"We threw the fucking ring in the lake!"

"I DON'T WANT TO GIVE UP ON HIM!" She pulled the car to the curve. Aqua pressed her head against the stirring wheel. She bawled, choking and gasping. Dilan attended to his sister broken. "My sister used to kick ass. In the military, in war, I've seen you break a man's arm. Flew a fucking plane—my sister is a beast! What the fuck is this?"

"A woman that has had enough! I'm tired D! I want my family back! I want my husband back! I'm tired of my son asking me where daddy is!" She strained her throat. "And I can't explain to him that daddy isn't coming home because he loves getting high more than us!". Dilan reached out and grasped her hand. "Get out the car."

After some coaxing and big brother love. Dilan and Aqua leaned against the white car watching cars dash by. In Dilan's hands, a cylinder wrapped in substance foreign to her. He handed it to Aqua, "Dilan, I don't smoke."

"I do, takes the stress off me."

"Is it legal?"

"Girl take the fucking thing!" he shook the rolled object at her. Aqua took it reluctantly. She took a drag, sucked in air, and blew a cloud of smoke. "Already know how to use it..."

"From watching Terra…" she examined the stick. "Elixir leaves..." he commented.

"Yeah, sure, let's call it that..."

They smoked the leaves and relaxed, Dilan faced her before breaking the silence. "I don't want you out here scared or confused. I want my sister happy. I don't like knowing a fool hurt you. Tell me, what did Terra do?"

She glazed her eyes over at him and took another drag. "The day he barged in the house. We fought and the kitchen and he..." she drew a breath. "He put a knife I had against me. That's it."

"Jesus... Aqua."

"If I told you I knew you'd be ready hunt him down..."

Dilan rotated his eyes, "No shit. I'm your brother-"

"Half,"

Dilan poked out his lips, "If you lost your left ass cheek and I gave you my left ass cheek. That's a whole cheek but! It is still my ass. Being your half-brother doesn't me I stop looking after you."

Aqua gazed at the clouds, "I don't think that's the right analogy-"

"Fuck the analogy! You are my sister, half or not, I will always be around to defend you or do whatever the fuck I need to do! Supporting raising Ven to fucking up the bitch that hurt you. I am still your brother. Half don't mean shit."

Aqua had two things. A son and a brother. That was all she needed.

"Thanks... big brother."


End file.
